Established in 1936, Monkey Bar was returned to its former glory in 2009 by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

The dining room's lush red leather banquettes and dim, attractive lighting have restored the fizzy thrill of dining in a restaurant - both attractive and cozy - and harken back to a bygone era when a gentleman never left the house without a tie and a lady always had a pair of white gloves in her purse.

We celebrated my wife’s birthday and it was a wonderful evening. The service was excellent and they actually brought out a lovely dessert with a candle. No singing and very low key which is exactly what we had hoped for. My wife has the halibut and I have the duck breast. Both were excellent. Plus the lemon drop cocktail my wife ordered was the best she ever had according to her. I can’t think of a negative thing about the meal. It was perf3zct.

Monkey Bar had been recommended by a friend & we weren't disappointed. Our waiter Justin was friendly and attentive and the food was excellent. My husband's tuna entree was "the best" he ever had and he is fussy about his tuna! My duck entree was perfect. Altho the noise upon entering thru the bar area at end of day on a Friday was deafening, once seated beyond for dinner we were able to converse and enjoy our meal. And to top it off, Tony Bennett sat not too far away!Thank you for a delicious dinner and an enjoyable evening.

My husband and I went to dinner for Valentine’s Day. The food was delicious, loved the beautiful space, we could actually have a conversation without having to shout, and we were not rushed through our dinner. Very relaxing. Also, we liked that they were offering their regular menu, and we weren’t tied into a prix fixe menu. Will definitely go there again.

We (a party of three) went there for a business lunch and we had a very disappointing experience. The food was really not great (the salmon carpaccio was dry, the halibut was way undercooked, my client only ate half of the risotto although he was really hungry). Also, the service was poor and uncoordinated. They first brought plates which weren’t clean (two out of three!) and we had to ask to change them (I would have expected them to spontaneously do it, but no). After the starters, I had to ask twice for silverware and only after a polite complaint did we receive some attention.

I love the restaurant, we did the Restaurant Week and the menu was outstanding. Our server was exceptional! The only comment is that the busboys were to quick to clear the table before we were quite done with each course. I would recommend a little bit of a slow down!

Came here for lunch during restaurant week. It's my 5-6 times dining @ Monkey Bar in the last 12 months and had never been disappointed until this time. I ordered Mahi Mahi and it came out pretty raw (you can see the bright red blood in the thicker part of the fillet). Unfortunately I didn't notice that until I had already finished 1/2 of the dish and I stopped eating. Alerted the server when he came pick up the finished plates that the fish was under-cooked, server simply replied "I will let the chef know", and that was pretty much it. No apologies, no compensation whatsoever. We came here to celebrate a colleague's birthday so didn't want to make a scene and I decided to let go. Despite the good experiences in the past, this single one instance of horrible custom service is enough to stop me and my colleagues from coming back to this restaurant again.

Our waiter was very pleasant fellow; courteous, always had a smile on his face and bestowed just exact amount of attention. I wish I could say the same about those who transported our food, but they pale next to the waiter.

Very disappointing. Went for the 52$ New York Strip Steak which I ordered medium and came out well done. The restaurant has this charming old NY vibe but as for the food, the meat and sides were just average for the price point. Not going back.

We went for a birthday celebration and were warmly welcomed. Our cocktails were delicious (a 54th special and a spiced rum chai). Two of us had the restaurant week menu: tasty soup followed by mahi mahi with an olive sauce, arugula and fingerling potatoes which was excellent, with lemon tart for desert. The other person had the lobster bisque and turbot. All the food was very good. Service was friendly and attentive and we were given plenty of time to open gifts between courses. The ambiance was great - we loved the decor. Great place for a celebration.

Was really looking forward to a meal at Monkey Bar, but unfortunately it was very disappointing. After taking our order (there were 5 of us), waiter came back twice to ask 2 of us what we had ordered. Then mahi mahi came out completely raw inside and it took a really long time to get anyone's attention to send it back to be fixed. We had to flag down a guy to refill our water glasses at one point--even though he was walking around with pitcher of water. Rest of food was quite good, but the kind of service I would expect from this place was definitely lacking, overall absent really. Maybe they were having an off day, but seemed really disorganized and wasn't the relaxing, easy, classic lunch we were all hoping for.

The Monkey Bar is an all-time classic NYC restaurant and bar. It has a very uniquedesign style with murals on so many of the walls and many comfortable booths if youprefer to be seated at one. It is not a modern, state of the art, twenty-first centuryhot spot, but a cozy and historically quaint place to dine. At the same time, the menu isvery updated and trendy and the wait staff is more than accommodating.

Monkey Bar is a great choice for restaurant week. The menu selections were great. My spinach salad and swordfish pallaird fantastic. Service was attentive but not over bearing. I highly recommend Monkey Bar for lunch for business as well as friends and family

Went for a dinner during this restaurant week. Was seated immediately. Did not get drinks menu and waited 15 minutes to get a chance to ask for it. The cocktails took another 15-20 minutes. The app was good - mozzarella with prosciutto. For entree we ordered chicken and gnocchi. Chicken was dry. Gnocchi were good but the portion was for a toddler. For dessert we got sorbet and dark chocolate soufflé. Sorbet was good, soufflé was really dry.Cocktail prices were ridiculous for their size.The waiter did not ask us even once if everything was good or if we needed anything.

Service and food were fantastic, would definitely go back. Only downside was the noise level and closeness of tables. We were seated next to a group that spent their entire time arguing and the language was pretty explicit. If our tables were not only a foot apart, we would not have probably noticed. Next time I would try to get a booth..

The historic Monkey Bar! Our first visit with out-of-town guests did not disappoint. This stunning restaurant with its luminous murals of 1930s celebrities could be the highlight of a New York visit. We went for the Restaurant Week menu, which was great. Our waiter gave us the full tour of the wall paintings, as jazz music played. The restaurant is reached through a venerable painted bar: they do not offer happy hour discounts in the bar, but it's lovely and the staff are relaxed and friendly. We will go back as often as we can afford it!

Overall it was fine. However my husbands chicken lunch was raw. Needed to be sent back. Waited about 20 minutes. Very awkward waiting while others ate. They did comp meal but still put downer on lunch time.

The selection and quality of food was good. The ambience is great. My only hesitation about this restaurant is that there was a limited selection of wine on the wine list and what was offered was generally very expensive.